PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY WAKES UP TO THE REALITIES OF APARTHEID

“The establishment of a politically and economically viable State of Palestine is impossible without ending the Israeli occupation of the whole West Bank and Gaza Strip, including East Jerusalem.”

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Israel logjam threatens statehood, Palestinians warn

A Palestinian baker removes unleavened bread off a tray at a traditional bakery in the Palestinian Rafah refugee camp, in the southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday (AFP photo)

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RAMALLAH — The Palestinian Authority warned on Saturday that long-standing lack of movement towards peace with Israel was threatening the concept of a two-state solution and could lead to Palestinians being left in an Israeli-run “apartheid” state.

“Without a tangible shift from a conflict management approach towards a just and lasting political agreement… Israelis and Palestinians will inevitably slide into one state governed by the principles of apartheid,” it said in a report prepared for a meeting of international donors in New York on Monday.

“The status-quo is not sustainable neither politically, nor economically,” the report in English wrote.

“The establishment of a politically and economically viable State of Palestine is impossible without ending the Israeli occupation of the whole West Bank and Gaza Strip, including East Jerusalem,” the 22-page document, published on Saturday, said.

It called on donor members of what is known as the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee to pressure Israel to dismantle its checkpoints in the West Bank and allow unhindered development of all areas, including so-called Area C, which is under full Israeli control and which covers some 60 per cent of the West Bank.

It also asked them to make diplomatic protests to Israel over its demolition of Palestinian homes.

A coalition of global NGOs said in a statement on Friday that demolition rates had hit a three-year high.

Citing UN statistics, the group of 30 aid, development and human rights organisations said demolitions of Palestinian property had tripled in the past three years, rising to an average of 64 per month in 2012, up from 23 in 2009.

The monthly average of people displaced as a result had doubled, increasing from 52 in 2009 to 103 in 2012, it said.

Direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians have been on hold since late September 2010.